Beacon
by Kino Ametsuchi
Summary: When faced between 'Evil' and possible 'Oblivion' (by forced reality overwrite) in the shape of outside-context problems, the choice of which was better in the end was debatable. Still, a deal was struck, the die is cast, and the first hunt began. But not before introducing equipment and knowledge to certain factions and watching the antics of a world at war in a new light
1. Summon Bigger Fish

It was the end of the world as we knew it and all Astrid wanted was a thrice damned latte with shots of charisma for a short buff. Maybe wander over to that cute guild receptionist once she drank some and after asking for any open missions, see if they wanted to hang out sometime. Hell, the young woman wasn't even sure if the person even had a gender since it was always wearing bulky armor and never spoke. Still, whatever they were was nice to her and that deserved favoritism if nothing else.

If that wasn't sad as hell, she really didn't know what was.

All her plans were tossed away all thanks to some dipshits who decided to go to another universe by sacrificing this one. Given the magic sigil spreading beneath her feet, Astrid knew that it was those bastards at the heart of this problem again since she was pulled along for the ride.

"At least I got my latte," Astrid muttered with just as much enthusiasm as this bullshit warranted as she was whisked away to who knows where.

"Well, this is new," Astrid said as she took a sip of her latte. "Never wound up in a void before."

All around her was comforting darkness and suddenly a distant light appeared in the dark, a bright white star that she got pulled towards. As Astrid got closer, it took the form of hundreds of shadow people, the one closest smiling in twisted amusement with its left hand stretched out. A silent voice spoke in the void.

Mental voice, Astrid concluded, with another sip of her drink.

 _"I know you don't want to do this but you know how those like you think and their preferred habits and plans of attack."_ Astrid moved closer towards it, floating like a ghost in the dark. _"It is a lot to ask you for but if we didn't grab you at that moment then you had the chance of disappearing forever when your reality unraveled from your kind's wish for a better future."_ She remained silent as the current spokesperson rambled on. After a moment, the figure frowned sadly. _"As much as meeting the one we admire is grand, we are in desperate need of your compliance in salvaging future events, Astrid Sinclair."_

The reaction to hearing **THAT** name after all these years nearly sent Astrid into a killing frenzy while making her want to escape and hide from anyone who knew that ancient name in the first place. Instead of either choice, Astrid settled for glaring since it was the least extreme thing she could do at the moment.

"That's not my name. Hasn't been my name for a very long time." Her eyes narrowed at the entities. "I will be getting compensated for this inane plan of yours regardless on whether I complete the current task in whatever universe you guys drop my ass in, right?"

The figure folded his hands and nodded. _"Naturally. Given your history, skills, knowledge and your on and off again addiction to adrenaline, it is only proper that we offer restitution for any and all losses, injuries and trouble for the future."_

Things were progressing too nicely and that raised flags for her to get the hell out of here. "Anything I was holding on to prior to the Apocalypse bullshit, will remain with me, yes? Along with any skills, knowledge, and material possessions...Those will be carried over?"

The lead entity nodded his head. She was just guessing it was male at this point.

"Am I being dropped in at a younger age, new body, current age, possession of canon characters, time travel or some fucked up hybrid?"

That made the figure blink. _"Why are you so sure you would be sent to those kinds of realities?"_

"Because the vast majority of those bastards don't possess the know-how, raw power, intense imagination and willpower to create their own universes so they will try to fuck things over in others. The rest have the requirements they are just lazy as hell. As for me, I just want to explore then relax or go on vacation when the plot starts going."

 _"I see,"_ replied the creepy thing. _"It would depend on where you are going next. The first one has you living in that world for almost six years already, though your memories are greatly suppressed due to the horrors you lived through. You will have to make up the history of yourself soon upon 'entry' and we are certain the world will correct things so it will cover any mistakes or holes you may have not foreseen. Your appearance has also been changed a bit so others can not connect you to what they might expect you to seem."_

Astrid raised her free hand up in rejection. "You do realize that what you are suggesting is a blatant retcon on whatever world this is, right? Something involving a skill set I haven't used in a long time is untrustworthy at best."

The jerks had the balls to shrug their shoulders.

She sighed deeply then bluntly asked, "I can never return home, right?"

 _"Your original reality no longer exists except in your memories."_

 _Well, there goes that potential relationship. I swear someone or something is interfering with me in this part of my life._

Her mind raced a thousand miles and hour as she started to link things together. "If I got rid of the problems, can I return to previous realities at a different date?"

 _"Yes, through there may be a time skip between leaving and returning. And there may be worse problems if you return."_

This is really too good to be true. What's the catch?

"What do you lot get out of this?"

The figure laughed. _"Many things but all are beneficial and harmless to you, this I swear. We can offer you the chance to visit and possibly save other worlds and become more than you currently are; all you need to do is to grab my hand."_

"I'm only doing this because I like living and this place is starting to get on my nerves." She reached out towards it, for an escape from the eternal darkness and endless hollowness. Or maybe it was just her natural curiosity at work. The figures in the light came closer as she floated towards them and smiled wider as she grabbed the hand of the spokesperson.

The figure spoke with a regretful grin, _"This might hurt but it will not affect you negatively after this moment. Sorry about this, but we can't risk losing you at this point."_

The figure's other hand pierced Astrid's chest and yanked out her heart. The gaping hole spread to the rest of her torso and then to her limbs and head. Organs swiftly liquefied as darkness from all around them was drawn to the emptiness inside her. Astrid's skeleton was crushed into dust and vanished while her blood and brain boiled away into nothingness. Her heart was encased in living shadows and bound in chains of thin rays of solidified light before it vanished.

The last remnants of darkness entered Astrid as sound filled her surroundings and every sensation and sense connected to the poor woman once more.

Astrid woke up to death and destruction and instinctively knew it was only going to get worse from there.

The late afternoon sun shone over the huge trees and threw long shadows onto the leafy ground. Horrified and suffering screams from the dying and broke the serene silence within the forest in the blink of an eye.

Not even the shadows could hide the dark scenery that occurred below the light of the setting sun. The smashed bodies against the tree trunks. Uniformed corpses lay scattered on the ground both inside and beyond the edge of the forest in stains of blood with faces frozen in fright and grim realization. Huge vaguely human footprints lead away from the scene and toward some survivors, blood-red from the carnage.

Suffice to say it was not a good idea to have a picnic here.

In the middle of this mayhem, in the shadows between the trees, a young girl, not more than five or six years old with long ashen hair and amber eyes appeared in the night holding a styrofoam cup with the logo of a fairy on it. She calmly took in her surroundings in an analytical and detached view, while taking the occasional sip of her latte. Once finished with the drink, she tossed it behind her with the brief thought on if it would be found and puzzled over one day. Sensing no one else nearby, the girl stepped closer to the massacre of sight and noticed how long it took her to accomplish such a feat. She glanced down at her body and froze on the spot, only cursing colorfully at her predicament once she realized that this was indeed her own body and not an illusion like she wished it was.

"Tits on Christ!" She spat toward her surroundings before looking skyward in muted annoyance. "This is not how you treat someone you 'admire' nor is it the proper way to drop someone off in any setting. Especially when you all force me to go on this ludicrous mission after saying all that shit."

As she expected, her words fell on deaf ears. Still, she continued her rant just so she could move on after letting off a little steam.

"And this is pretty generic of massacre scenes. It could be any fucking world with bodies like this!" The girl stopped there because she knew from personal experience and seen it happen to others that people like her had the habit of invoking certain habits and tropes and indirectly bring them into being.

For her kind, continuing past that point in any form was far more than simply Tempting Fate, it was just short of raping it. Which in hindsight might explain why most of them do and say such genre blind and wrong genre savvy things, they are all insane and obsessed with being overpowered and fondling Balls of all shorts. The rest, like herself, knew better and acted or reacted in ways that ensured they wouldn't be caught in the fallout that those dumbasses cause. That wasn't the say they weren't insane, have their own unique quirks, or didn't crave power and knowledge. No, that only made them smarter and more efficient.

The sounds of hooves drew her attention to a three dozen wounded soldiers pushing their horses to their limits as if the denizens of their nightmares were right behind them. A glance behind them revealed how accurate that statement was.

One glance at the three former humans turned monstrous giants and she cursed heavily again then took off after them as quickly as she could.

 _Silly me! Thinking I was going to have an easy hunt,_ she thought to herself as she willed strength, endurance and speed to her limbs when she noticed they were getting a bit farther than she thought they would.

Honestly she wanted to know why she felt she should intervene in their retreat for their benefit. This was an earlier part of the timeline since she didn't see any decent tactics thus far, nor saw that many of the more familiar corps members, so she shouldn't interfere.

 _I could save lives and wind up possibly captured and experimented on or even outright killed (which is merely annoying to put up with) or I could just pretend I didn't see anything and sneak inside the Walls later._

Images of her past life watching the characters and how much a fan she was of the series reminded her that this is real and they could die before the plot started.

"Fuck Erwin and his epic eyebrows," she whispered before vanishing from the forest entirely.

The girl reappeared behind the neck and spine slowest chasing titan in the blink of an eye and ripped a good portion of it's spine out with her right hand, the razor sharp demonic claws crushed the offending consciousness and filling her with a rush that she had long deprived herself of: bloodlust in it's purest form. The sudden and lethal blow was enough to end it's life but by then she was already moving to the next closest.

By now the creatures knew that they were under attack but didn't fight back until there was only one left for some reason. Even then it was slow and careful movements meant more to capture or confine her than harm. There was no single-minded need to kill any humans or Titan Shifters to this titan, no mindless bloodlust emitting from them which cooled her own raging emotions. It was more like it viewed her as something similar enough to it and not human enough to pursue.

Of course, that would need further testing in more controlled setting but such a thing would be useful to know. The ways Astrid could use that to her advantage made her excited for the future.

The entire thing was so confusing, especially when the titan didn't give up its original prey that easily. Something that was too good to pass up.

"Well, if you are so kindly offering your back to me, it would be rude of me not to accept it." She whispered to herself as she lightly cut her other arm and bathed the claws in her blood.

It attacked wildly with its arms and it could. The girl blocked some of them with her transformed left arm as she formed a shield made from her inner darkness and blood that negated much of the blows stumbling effect on her tiny body, dodged the rest by jogging up it's arms and started to bind it's movements with both of their shadows.

She watched the titan's incoming arm with a cruel smirk and pulled her clawed one back with a little flexing of the fingers. A rapid thrust forward and the entire left arm on the titan got bisected clean off from the shoulder. Her blood worked better than she expected it would since she was only hoping it would prevent regeneration. It did along with creating a corroding black substance to spread to it's shoulder and chest.

 _Another thing I will need to research._

She then swung and stabbed her left arm in a fierce attack at it, inflicted more infected wounds on the titan's body as she ran up it. The titan, unable to retaliate from the physical assault and biological attack had it's other arm sliced off once the strange girl was safely on it's shoulder. The monstrous mimicry of humanity growled and tried to reach the girl who vanished from her perch in thin air.

A shadow from above got the titan's attention and it gazed up.

The widely grinning child dropped down from above with a vertically aimed black blade to slice the creature from top to bottom.

A short cry of dismay was all it could utter before it's spine was halfway sliced through. Still it was enough to end it's existence.

The girl dismissed her changed arms back to their normal form, and flipped off from the titan's back, blinking closer to the ground once she realized it was too risky at that height for her current body.

Back on solid ground, she sighed and began following them again.

Three fourths of their return trip back and the Wall to Shiganshina District in distant sight, the girl blinked forward and did probably the most stupid thing in her entire existence. Luckily no one was watching the small section of the wall beside the gate she appeared at, so at least no one can see her bout of self-harm and panic.

Without thinking longer on it, the girl elongated three of her fingers into sharp edges then carefully stabbed her body, two in the chest and one in the abdomen and then reverted her fingers back to normal. None of the wounds were immediately life threatening, just in case she had to get her own ass to safety, but each one was calculated to seem more dangerous that it should and to cause herself to bleed heavily.

Unfortunately, Astrid didn't take in her already exhausted five year old form into consideration when she did this task.

Numbness spread from the wounds and she had a red string of blood from the corner of the mouth. Her body felt heavy and beyond her control. All she could do was collapse to the ground and stare up at the star-filled sky with heavier and heavier eyelids.

It hurt like a bitch and she knew that she was going to scold herself later. If there was a later.

Tears, a foreign experience that she hadn't felt in many years, formed over her eyes as her voice came out more pain filled and harsh than she wanted.

"Help me..."

A silhouette appeared and looked down at her; she could see the blue eyes beneath bushy brows and the indeterminable gaze.

 _When did they get here?_

She tried to lift her hand and reached up to him, to assemble the strength to see him clearly before her eyes became too heavy to stay open. He bowed down and she got an upside down look on the hesitant decision in his face. She didn't care about it. Her body turned lighter as she smiled faintly. The world turned dark as she felt the heat leave her and she closed her eyes and pleaded in an inaudible whisper.

"I don't want to die..."

 _How ironic. The one time I didn't intend to die from such things and I do anyway._

Her hand fell down on the ground, and she floated away into the dark void with a rueful smile on her pale lips.

A wooden ceiling met her eyes as she rested in a bed, her body wrapped loosely into a blanket. She blinked slowly to comprehend what happened.

 _I really hope this doesn't start a trend of waking up in unfamiliar places._

"Well, that could have worked out better." She muttered beneath her breath and something stiff rubbed up against her skin as she tried to move around. Her body had been wrapped up with bandages from what she could feel and she frowned. "Unnecessary, though I still am thankful for the check over. But who saved me?"

"So you are finally awake now?"

The voice came from the opposite end of the room and her heart, her non-existent heart Astrid reminded herself, skipped a beat from the sudden surprise. She tried to sit up but failed from the aching pain.

 _Why the hell is Erwin still here?"_

"Don´t try to move, or the wounds might open up again." A voice to the side of the bed lightly scolded in a fatherly way. She turned to face the closer man and noted that it was indeed Grisha Jaegar who was tending to my wounds.

The doctor tilted his the head and asked with a caring and friendly tone, "How are you feeling?"

She found herself too stunned by the fact that she was royally screwed with these guys in the same room as her and looked down in nervousness.

She didn't even need to exaggerate her concern and worry.

"I'm fine. I don't feel any discomfort aside from the obnoxious rubbing of dried blood on my skin."

The survey corps member smiled in response and sighed. The doctor on the other hand frowned in thought.

"Good to hear, but you had me worried there… You took a serious injury after all," Erwin said with a frown. "If it wasn't for Dr. Jaegar here, you would be in worse shape."

The girl frowned and glanced back the mentioned doctor who nodded his head.

"How did I…?"

"Feel lucky that the person who attacked you wasn't good at aiming, but you were still in danger from blood loss, so I did my best to patch you together."

She mentally bristled at the bad aim comment but calmed herself enough to politely thank the good doctor.

"Thank you for healing me."

Her face mellowed at the thought of her 'attacker' as it was mentioned; both men shared a look but it was the Grisha who asked, "Was it someone you knew who dragged you out there? Was it a neighbor? Something close to that?"

 _Oh, it was most certainly someone I know. Seriously, though what should I say? Bullshit my way or be serious?_

"It was one of my Big Brothers from the project. He attacked me near the gates because he knew there was a good doctor inside and that I would be well taken care of. He is smart like that."

 _Bullshit it is then! Fuck! Well, at the very least I could use the 'project' as an excuse for any odd bursts of powers or knowledge._

Erwin stiffened. "What is this project?"

The girl fidgeted beneath their intense stares for a moment. "It was a project that had several different goals but the main two involved finding alternate ways to eliminate titans with the least amount of casualties and find a way to evolve humanity to have abilities in order to better survive the world."

 _And the hole gets ever deeper. Wonder if I can dig myself to their equivalent to China if I keep this up?_

Grisha closed his eyes in pain no doubt knowing where this lie was heading. "Did they succeed?"

Her laughter was little more than an unhinged giggle at the question but she returned to normal soon enough. "In some definition of the word." She folded her hands. "The general project had been going on for about a decade or so but really became focused on human improvement and Titan elimination when my Big Brothers were captured followed by me when I was a year old. So about five years ago on the first of April for me. They were much stronger than normal humans. I am stronger than normal humans as well but I am special in a way. The three of us were the control group, the bar that was set for the candidates."

Both of them looked disgusted with the idea, so she continued telling her fake sob story. If anything, she could use the sympathy to get a temporary room here.

 _Why do I feel like this will complicate matters in the long run?_

"The children and adults were trained for three years in different weapons and get a education that teaches the young candidates skills like reading, history, writing, math, geography, and even some forbidden subjects and ideas from the outside world. They also received social training while learning to behave and assume any role, everything from nobles to prostitutes for covert missions when they are to eliminate a threat to humanity when they were internal issues. We participated in these parts and got some advanced training as well. Many candidates physically exerted themselves until they coughed up blood or their implants started acting up."

 _I wonder if Mike can smell the bullshit from wherever he is?_

"The implants were made from various parts of a Titan inserted into humans who were adequately prepared but it didn't take the group long to realize that certain areas of the spine provided best results." The girl smiled sadly. "The subjects were also injected with Titan and my own blood and must eat the raw animal flesh or preferably the body parts or blood of titans for their bodies to become fully inhuman. Incompatible blood types and/or organs cause a rejection in the human body and the implants start eating the human portion of the body far quicker than it did with the rest of the people who were tricked into doing this." The girl sighed. "While it pushed the human body far more than it should be in that way, they were also living on borrowed time."

Grisha sighed and asked, "They died?"

The girl shook her head. "They changed. Their Titan implants corrupted their bodies and slowly consumed their human minds until they were gone. They were all different in appearance and ability after that point but they weren't human any longer, and yet they were not titans either. Many of them still thought normally just not like a normal human would see things. The shelf life for them wasn't that long and we were the ones who-"

She looked like she was about to cry again and Grisha tried to help her out of it by a change of topic.

"I think that is enough interrogation for today." He told Erwin who nodded his head in agreement. Grisha turned back to the poor thing who looked like she was on the verge of having a panic attack. "Everything is fine."

The girl stopped trembling and a comfortable silence built between the three of them.

"Why did you save me?" She asked in hesitation and looked back to Erwin. "Humans don't do such things for strangers."

Astrid really couldn't understand. Humans were always tricky confusing beings to her, even back home. Then again she considered everyone who wasn't like her as humans and they feared and resented her kind so it was justified in a way.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why? Because I wanted to. I couldn't just leave you to die like that." Erwin sighed at seeing her understand what he was saying but didn't see how it applied to her. "Let me tell you something: If you died when I could have prevented it, then I am even worse than people who kidnapped you and your brothers."

She smiled at both of them. "You are both heroes to me. Just like my brothers."

The men blinked in confusion.

"Well, that's a first. I have been called many things but never a 'hero'." Erwin muttered.

"It´s true! You both saved me when nobody else could. Just like my brothers took care of me." The girl frowned with sad eyes. "I am sorry…" She looked down in shame. "I have upset you both with my words and for that I deeply apologize."

Erwin shook with the head and raised a hand.

"You didn't upset us in any way. We were just surprised." He paused for a moment in hesitation then asked, "Didn't you three have names?"

 _Well, fuck. I can't say who one of the fictional people was based off of. The other one is fair game since he was based off of one of my kind that I tolerated, but wouldn't that be inviting trouble?_

She nodded her head slowly. "The boys were born and raised outside the project but all I truly knew until recently was in there. I was called Zero as I was empty or blank but filled with infinite possibilities and potential. The oldest boy was at least a decade older than me and the first brought in so he was called One. The second boy who was older than me by six years was Two. We were only called that by others, so our names were sacred and whispered to each other when we were alone. I do not trust either of you enough yet to betray them in such a way."

Erwin nodded his head in acceptance and headed towards the door, when she carefully spoke to him.

"Where are you going?"

He stopped and turned back to her.

"I am going to carefully validate your claims and search for your brothers after I return to my commander and report on your condition. Dr. Jaegar will take care of you and will get you some food. You have slept for two days straight and need to replenish a lot of energy."

 _I am so screwed..._

He opened the door to the main area of the house to leave and stopped as the girl called out after him.

"Thank you but my name is..." He turned around to look down at her. She lowered the voice in caution, "Astrid. Astrid Sinclair."

 _Ugh. Why did use that surname after all this time?! I'm going to kill those things that dragged me into this mess._

A pleased, but surprised expression crossed his face as he gave Astrid a small smile. "That's a name I have never heard of before. It suits you and I can tell it means a lot to you." His smiled widened the tiniest bit. "My name is Erwin Smith."

Astrid looked to the doctor who smiled a little as well. "I am Grisha Jaegar. It is a pleasure to meet you Astrid."

Astrid nodded her head and smiled back.

 _Keep up the childish act for now until I can find out what the hell is going on._

They both left the room and closed the door.

Astrid's smile dropped and was replaced by an expression of grim determination. Her mind went through every possible variable of what just happened and what she could visualize the future held for what she just bullshitted.

 _So I am either a lying troublemaking kid, or a survivor of a project that somehow exists when it shouldn't? Why couldn't I just stay silent or say something more normal? Well, here's hoping things work out._

Astrid rested with her head in the pillow and smiled as she went back to sleep. False and faded memories of two youths and herself flooded her dreams, filling her with an odd sadness and longing despite never seeing them before.

Author's Note: This is just a general idea I have been toying with for a while. A reluctant person cursed with being a magnet to trouble and weirdness due to not using their powers constantly for a long time and then forced to fix other worlds and so on.

Don't worry, the Reality Warpers are generally limited in what their innate power can do or specialize in. Astrid at the moment can only alter herself and her immediate vicinity since she hasn't consciously done anything like that for a while.

Sorry if it seemed a bit overpowered against the titans but I'm going to change things bit by bit including secret advances in weaponry, tactics and so on over the story while remaining close to canon.

There are two (at least) references to different series during her rushed explanation: Shout-out to first people who say where they are from.

I will probably include other such things over time.


	2. Kingdom for a Heart

"How are you feeling today?" Grisha Jaegar asked with a smile as he walked into her room with a complete breakfast of fruit, vegetables and dried meat at hand.

Astrid giggled from the cheery mood and sat up in bed with her hands down at her knees.

The stench of death and blood that was on her skin and clothing had vanished as Carla brought in a tub of water the next morning so Astrid could wash up. The white sundress she had was too ruined to clean so she was given some clothes that didn't fit their own child anymore. At first Carla wanted to help wash the young child but Grisha pulled her aside and summed up what she had been through and how skittish she could become.

 _I'm just going to ignore that._

Astrid smiled up at him and answered. "Much better now that I am clean again."

Grisha nodded his head then looked around to make sure his wife or curious son wasn't nearby. Satisfied that they weren't, he sat down on the chair beside the bed and looked at her seriously. "There's no easy way to ask this but, why don't you have a heartbeat?"

 _Oh fuck..._

"Shit! Promise you won't freak out or attack me?" Astrid asked with a twitching smile.

Grisha slowly nodded and Astrid took off the loose top and visualized her chest opening up to the darkness forced to reside within her. Instead of looking away like she wanted, Astrid continued to look at the doctor to see his reaction.

Her chest opens revealing fleeting glimpse of a gloomy crevice and blossoming ribs. In the place of her insides that were stolen from her, there was only Death's devouring nothingness. An empty shell of a child forced to live in a world that would despise her. An empty chest without a heart to call her own.

There was no disgust, fear or hatred that she could sense from her reveal so she returned her chest back to how it should be.

Grisha pushed his glasses up and said, "Thank you for trusting me with this." He paused then asked, "Is that why you healed so quickly?"

 _No, it's because I'm like you, a literal monster in human shape,_ was on the tip of her tongue but self-preservation won over the need to be sarcastic.

Astrid shrugged and was about to properly answer when she was interrupted by an excited boy who entered the small bedroom and started asking questions.

"Where does the food go? Did it hurt when your chest opened up like that? Why were you bleeding?"

"That's enough Eren." Grisha scolded with a deep frown.

"But..." Eren mumbled, his green eyes dimmer at being told off.

Astrid laughed a little at seeing his dejected expression. "I don't mind." She closed her eyes in thought then opened them again. "I think the food converts to energy I can use, with eating more building up a reserve. No, it didn't hurt. I think my body acts like a normal human because I thought it was normal to begin with."

Grisha sighed and introduced Astrid to his son who smiled at her.

The breakfast began and Grisha watched while the two children shared the food and talked about anything that came to mind.

But once breakfast was finished, the serious question rose up.

Grisha asked her with some concern, "Do you have any relatives?"

Astrid's eyes filled with a heavy gaze and bowed her head. "I only have my brothers and they aren't blood related to me. I also don't know where they are now."

"Are you sure? None in other districts or…"

"Nobody cares about the people who were born in the Underground." Tears appeared in her face as she shivered.

A part of her applauded her acting. Another part told the first one that it wasn't that much of an act if was true.

She cried slowly and Eren put his left hand on her shoulder as comfort. "That's not true."

"My big brothers were all I had to call my own in this world and I lost them." Her tears flowed down along the cheeks and sent the voice into a tremble, filled with sorrow as she talked between the sobs. "I was so scared when they suddenly woke me up and got me out of there. They were fighting for some time, and I wanted to go with one of them but my other brother dragged me away from him. There were bodies everywhere and all I could do was run. Run and hide and pray that I wouldn't be caught unaware." Astrid cried in rivers while she held her head with both her hands. "It's all my fault. If I wasn't found then the project would never have went down that path."

After a few more minutes of crying and remembering her own experiences back home, Astrid calmed down considerably. Her eyes regained their brightness as determination and curiosity shone in them.

"Do you think I'm inhuman?"

"Why would I? Would something inhuman worry about that?"

Astrid snorted at the childish but honest answer she got from Eren. "Thanks, Eren." She turned to face Grisha and asked, "Is Erwin coming back?"

"He should be back in a few days." Grisha smiled at both of the children. "Why don't you show her around town and introduce her to your friend?"

Eren grinned widely at Astrid as he yanked her out of bed and started pulling her behind him. Astrid narrowed her eyes at the older man and motioned with her free hand that she was watching him and said what he did there.

It was rather reassuring that Armin Arlert was in the similar situation to when he was first introduced. Younger versions of the bullies were harassing the precious cinnamon roll who could make plans to kill and get away with it.

Eren growled and began to charge when he was roughly grabbed and restrained. Angry green eyes widened at the cruel twist to her smile and the burning despise in her wolfish gaze.

"They will keep on doing the same things unless something forced them to always be reminded that this is a bad thing." Astrid started with confidence as she went over the idea she had in store.

Eren grinned in excitement as he walked over to the group alone. Once he was close enough to the group, the brown haired boy cried out, "Armin! Fancy seeing you here."

The looks of utter astonishment at seeing the hot blooded boy talking to them kindly nearly sent Astrid into a laughing frenzy but she stopped herself since it would break her cover.

Slowly she moved the shadows in the alleyway to her position and started building images in her mind of how to block out the small area for the ease of manipulating their senses.

"Eren?" Armin cautiously called out at the boy who only said not to panic.

Then the sun that was pouring down into the alleyway was blotted out by darkness and shadows casting the children within it's confines into the abyss. After a moment the void was replaced by a schoolhouse room or classroom. The lone door was behind Armin and windows facing the void were the only exits. Empty desks sat in rows before a blackboard that started to be written on by an unseen force.

"Morning, mindless lambs to the slaughter. Sit your worthless asses down." The five children sat down in the front row. "Everyone seated? Finally."

The board was wiped clean by an invisible hand.

"Today I'm about to school you shitty bastards about a subject near and dear to my existence: Reality Warpers. These are the guys that change reality based on perception, curiosity, knowledge and willpower. I've spent my long existence living under the radar or training these fuckers to control their powers only to wind up chasing them down to end their chaotic fancies. At least things are rarely boring."

The writing vanished after the kids paled at the underlying meaning to the words.

"You little shits pissed me off by harassing my friends all the time, but I am merciful. Instead of harming you consider this your first and last warning." Warning was underline three times. "First of all, I want you to take a look at the door to the classroom room. Notice something about them?" All of them glanced quickly at the door then back at the blackboard. "Look closer numbnuts. Nothing anything missing~"

"The doors are gone..." Armin whispered with wide blue eyes.

"Yes, Armin. The doors are gone. Take a closer look if you want. Touch them. They're not there. The doors have literally disappeared." The echoing voice took on a gentle tone like it was consoling the kids. "But that's okay, right? You can still get out the windows if you want. Except there's one small problem." It changed to a childish mockery of wonder. "There aren't any windows in this room either, are there? All the windows are gone. There's nothing but four blank walls, a ceiling, and a floor. No way out. But how did you get in?"

Even Eren was starting to become worried at how things were progressing. He just kept reminding himself that she promised no permanent harm would happen to any of them.

"Starting to freak out a bit? Don't worry, just take a deep breath. It's not like anything worse is happening. I mean, it could be worse, right? At least you're safe in here, just like you are safe inside the walls, am I not right? It's not like the pieces of furniture are coming alive to kill you now, is it? Oh wait, yes they are. The FUCKING DESKS ARE TITANS AND ARE GOING TO EAT YOU ALIVE."

The desk tops morphed into the heads of titans with the legs of the desk being altered into short arms that grabbed the children to stop them from getting away. The head was restrained by chains so all it could do was lunge at the terrified brats and bite the air. Arms busted brought the ceiling, walls and floor clawing at the boys.

"What you gonna do? HOW YOU GONNA SURVIVE? THE GODDAMN ROOM IS ALIVE AND GOING TO EAT YOU. WATCH FOR THOSE FUCKING TITANS, THEY HAVEN'T BEEN FED FOR A WHILE! I can see some of you think that this is a dream. How cute. Unfortunately for you, THIS IS REAL. THIS IS A REALITY WARP, my reality crushing yours, and you could cease to be quite easily."

Two of the bullies were trembling in fear but their leader stood up and raised his hands as if to throw a punch.

"Oh, I see, a real TOUGH guy, huh? Do you really think that unarmed combat will work out against a REALITY WARPER!? I could make your arms melt off your body. I can rearrange all the orifices of your body. I can make you slaughter your family and offer yourself to titans for lunch with happy thoughts and a smile on your fucking face. LIE THE FUCK DOWN ON THE GROUND, YOU FUCKING RETARD."

One of the sniveling bullies cried out, "What do you want monster?"

"What do I want? WHAT DO I WANT!? What the hell do I need from a fucking piece of human refuse like you? I don't want ANYTHING that you can give me except to be my plaything. And that's ALL you fuckers are gonna be! There is NO escape, NO respite. You will LIVE when I say LIVE, you will DIE only if I allow it. I reject your poor excuse at an reality and substitute it with my own!"

The classrooms vanished and the alleyway returned in the blink of an eye. The only signs of the trauma were the bullies on the ground cradled into a fetal position long after the three children were browsing stores in peace.

Astrid stopped before small stall selling rare herbs and common plants. The owner of the stall seemed to recognize the young girl and immediately went over to her. He bowed to her in apology.

"I'm sorry to say this little lady, but your special order is still being collected since some of the components is fairly hard to get. In compensation, I will get you some common herbs for ointments."

The owner of the shop put a very odd emphasis on the word special, and Astrid audibly groaned when her mind connected the details.

 _Normalcy was nice, boring but nice, when it lasted._

Armin frowned at the old man. "I'm afraid this is a case of mistaken identity since Astrid didn't order anything from this store nor meet you before."

The wizened man simply smiled and nodded at the lone girl of the group. "Certainly, young lady. I understand completely. I don't know you. As you wish." The man winked twice at the young girl who dragged Eren who looked like he was going to beat up the old guy and Armin who was deep in thought out of the store. Astrid only let go of them when they were a good distance away.

Armin was the one who asked her what that was about, "Did you know that man?"

Astrid shook her head. "It's one of my lifelong problems. A condition that is at times beneficial, sometimes tolerable and occasionally harmful to myself or others." She paused before adding with obvious hesitation, "It's a side effect of when I don't use my abilities constantly or for a while. It builds up and when I am forced to do such things, everything is over the top."

Eren frowned as he asked, "Is that why you were worried about how we would react?"

 _Among other reasons._

Astrid nodded.

"What is this condition exactly?

She looked at Armin who accepted her internal oddity quickly but given his love for knowledge, unusual things and the outside world, she wasn't that surprised.

Astrid rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "How to phrase this... Fuck it." She sighed. "Strange, unnatural, unusual and simply bizarre things happen to me with alarming frequency. Demons will stop terrorizing the region and hold philosophical conversation with me. Weird items with disturbing properties and strange people with odd connections or obsessions with me or something else will always find their fucking way to me and screw up my life. The only talking animal in this screwed up reality will come to me with its problems and stick around just to be a jackass. Gates and portals to different realms which were sealed or lost for centuries will crack open when I near it just so I can be bathed in it's essence and level up."

Seeing their blank faces, and reminding herself that they were still young children, Astrid summed everything.

"Like calls to like. Or weird shit attracts weird shit. Both works."

It doesn't help that her kind screws with reality by simply existing. If anything this quirk of hers was just a way to get back at her.

"Pretty much," Astrid muttered as she saw several crows watching her from the rooftops.

She was half expecting the crows to caw out, ""Evil Crows..." Weirder things have happened.

The trio of friends went over to Armin's house and spent time going over the forbidden books the resident old man and the blond's nutty parents collected. The more she looked over the collection the more firmly Astrid thought his parents were conspiracy theorists who went around the bend without their tinfoil hat.

An hour after the attack, Armin finally came to terms with what happened. He forcibly closed the book about tectonic plates, ley lines and natural elemental forces like huge things of water and fiery rivers that Astrid was reading.

 _Thousands of years of knowledge lost in this hellhole of an environment. I hate this place already._

"How were you able to do that Astrid?"

Seeing Armin struggling a little with what he witnessed she decided to respond give a more mundane and inaccurate name to what happened. It would explain enough until he could accept the truth. "Hypnosis."

Both boys eyes lit up at her response and she regretted it right away.

"Hypnosis," Eren repeated with a tilted head. "What is that?"

"Mind, willpower and senses manipulation," Astrid grimly admitted. "Not one of my favourite things but it has it's uses. Especially in the hands of someone who knows how to use it effectively."

Armin nodded his head in thought. "How did you use it at that time?"

"The usual way for me," Astrid muttered beneath her breath then switched to an more audible tone to answer his question. "It depends on the person and their preference. For me, I see the human brain having two layers: the consciousness layer and the subconscious. Thought and reason for the first and instinct and true self for the second. By bypassing the layer of reason and attacking the layer of instinct and self, I can manipulate feelings memories and the like even if I can not speak their language. Most of the time it is subtle and long lasting to the point even I don't know if the affected is doing it out of desire to help or because I suggested it to them." Astrid shrugged. "There are limitations at what I can do which this. The most obvious is it has to be used in close combat range so it is dangerous to use during battle."

Armin ruffled a hand through his hair. Maybe it was just that strange part of him which had already been convinced, despite only hearing of such things in his grandfather's bedtime stories but...

"It seemed like an hallucination but it also seemed as real as we are now," Armin admitted with a shy smile. "You'd think there'd be some kind of more dramatic mental event associated with finding out that everything I believe as impossible and possible being wrong."

Eren nodded his head agreement.

The young girl was smiling benevolently upon them, looking quite amused. "Would you like a further demonstration?"

 _I know I can still shape individual body parts, but can I change my entire form into something else at this point? And would Armin be alright with it?_

Even though Astrid wasn't positive, she had the feeling she could still easily accomplish such a feat. Shapeshifting was one of the most basic skills in a Warper's arsenal but she avoided those sides of her for many years.

"You don't have to," Eren automatically replied. "You mentioned that you were keeping a low profile for a long time so you probably aren't used to such obvious displays."

Armin hesitated. He couldn't help himself. Actually, under the circumstances, he shouldn't be helping himself. It was right and proper to be curious about their new friend. "What else can you do?"

Astrid turned into a fox.

Armin scrambled back unthinkingly, backpedalling so fast that he tripped over a stray stack of books and landed hard on his bottom with a thwack. His hands came down to catch himself without quite reaching properly, and there was a warning twinge in his shoulder as the weight came down on his thin arms.

At once, the overly large snow white fox morphed back into a shoeless, short and light top wearing little girl. "Sorry about that Armin," said the warper, sounding sincere, though the corners of her lips were twitching upwards. "I should have warned you."

Armin was breathing in short gasps. His voice came out choked. "You can't DO that!"

"It's only a version of shapeshifting," said Astrid. "An animal transformation, to be exact."

"You turned into a fox! A LARGE fox the size of a full grown adult human! A human mind can't just visualise a whole animal's anatomy and change into it without problems. How can you go on thinking using a fox-sized brain?"

Astrid's lips were stretched out in a foxy grin now. "Magic, Will, and luck?"

"There is no way that is enough to do that! You'd have to be a god!"

Astrid blinked then groaned. "I despise being called that. Nothing good ever comes when one of my kind gets such delusions. Doubly true when it becomes an accurate description to their existence."

"Your kind would be-"

Astrid interrupted Armin's inquiry with a silly grin as she said, "I'm a Reality Warper, Eren and Armin."

A tense silence followed until the three children started laughing at once. When they managed to calm down enough to talk, Eren bluntly said, "You are insane, Asty."

Astrid sobered up and shrugged. "Most likely. That's why I have you two to keep me from going down too many rabbit holes."

"I have the sinking feeling that if we ever leave her alone to her own devices for longer than a few months, we will reunite to your house only to find a crater billowing green smoke, a depopulated district surrounding it and a plague of flaming titans terrorizing what remains of the Walls." Armin whispered to Eren who nodded.

"Eren! Armin! How mean!"

Astrid had the feeling that she, and by extension the rest of the group, were being observed by some invisible presence constantly over the course of the week following her waking up to this hell. Since Astrid sensed no malcontent and other negative emotions from their stalker, she pushed the feeling to the back of her mind.

Each day she spent hours with the Energizer Bunny in human form Eren and 3000% done with everything Armin (who was getting mildly annoyed by how hyper the other boy was now that he had someone who could keep up with his energy), then separated from them for her own exploration of the area only to return for dinner or bedtime.

This exploration served many purposes aside from the obvious knowing where stores, important locations, and decent places to hide herself or stolen goods were.

Her hands shook slightly from the restraint she had to exhibit when seeing valuable objects that could be turned for profit were just lying around, _begging_ to be taken to a better home.

 _Map exits first then I can indulge in my kleptomaniac habit,_ Astrid mentally reminded herself as she walked away from a pawn shop within Wall Maria. She decided to head back to the district for the day after seeing how late it actually was.

Getting in and out of Wall Maria was surprisingly easy since no one saw her as a threat or nuisance. Wall Rose was just a bit harder to enter but it soon became easy as well when the guards at the gate she used became familiar with her.

Subtle hypnosis may have been used to get faster results, but since no one can prove she did anything wrong it didn't matter. Besides, chances were they were going to die in a few years anyway.

The constant traveling revealed to her how big this cage really was and how screwed things were and will be soon. Most of the farmlands were indeed in Maria, so she would need to get money and find a way to preserve the food for several years with the most amount of lives intact. The forests were huger than she expected and made her feel insignificant for the first time in her life.

Then there were tactics to consider. Erwin will revolutionize the strategies they use but there is still an appalling body count. Astrid hadn't seen such piss poor management since her days in the military when talents were first introduced into the battlefield, and she really hated that time.

So that has to be changed.

Weaponry would need to be improved drastically to make the plan forming in her skull work and obviously people will block that route. Thankfully, such obvious obstacles can be removed or paid off without much difficulty.

"What's so funny, Astrid?" A cheerful voice asked.

The girl abruptly stopped laughing and grinning widely, realizing she was doing such obviously evil things. The moment she composed herself enough to function, Astrid turned to face one of the other reasons she was exploring for so long and often.

"Hey Mikasa!"

Yes, meeting other characters before it was time was a side goal but she needed to see what resources that were at her disposal or she would be screwed during the construction and design phases.

That and seeing a cheerful and happy Mikasa was so surreal Astrid just had to get involved with the nearly friendless girl. The little black haired girl huffed goodnaturedly at my greeting, her black eyes dancing in glee.

Astrid glanced above and over Mikasa's shoulder and realized she was in front of the small bakery her parents ran. Of course she would run into the girl here.

The thought of a Ackerman baking always amused her.

"What was amusing you so much that you didn't hear me call out?"

The ashen haired girl thumbed her fingers together and grinned in the cheesiest evil way she could think of. In other words, she mimicked how her kind often looked.

"My plans for world domination amused me, my dear Mikasa." Astrid lowered her head in apology. "Forgive me for not hearing you."

Mikasa scrunched up her face at hearing the odd words but the youth was already adapting to Astrid's eccentricities. Hence why the half asian humored her by asking if there was a role for her in those plans.

"Of course! You are my Dragon. Well, Co-Dragon but I have yet to meet the other half. Eren is the Brute and Armin is the Evil Genius."

Mikasa just smiled lightly at the other girl's excitement and nonsense words. She was taken aback when Astrid clapped her hands suddenly.

"Why don't you come over to meet them tomorrow morning? They would love to have you as another friend!" All of a sudden the girl stiffened and looked around wildly until she turned her golden gaze skyward and saw night approaching faster than she thought it would. "Gotta go back for today. Night, Mikasa."

And just like that the strange girl took off running leaving her acquaintance gawking after her. From within the bakery, two parents watched the scene with mixed feelings.

"I made back before the last days of the sun vanished. I can not be grounded," Astrid huffed out between huge gulps of air. Upon not hearing anything, the girl stood up and saw an unexpected guest in the form of Erwin Smith.

Astrid opened the mouth to greet him but stopped as she noticed the loose paper clutched to his side. There was no friendly greeting and only a stoic expression of heavy lament in his eyes.

 _Oh, fuck my luck. It didn't happen and I am about to be killed or interrogated. Shit, think of something to say._

"I have it on good authority that you can't prove anything."

 _Damn my habit of bullshitting and trying to be witty!_

Erwin sighed heavily, though she liked to think there was a slight hint of amusement in his gaze. "Is there someplace the three of us can discuss this privately?"

Grisha nodded and got up from. He looked at the terrified expression on Astrid's face and then saw the grim determination on his son's own and nodded to himself.

Carla pulled Eren away to force him in helping her cook dinner.

No one spoke for a short while as the group followed the older man into the basement. A part of her took notice of how all his items from his past life were recently boxed up, but her main focus was on the two adults.

"You were correct about everything you said." Astrid held her breath in with utter disbelief when Erwin didn´t look back at her after dropping that bomb on her. "It was hard to get the information I have due to the recent massacres that has been going on for the past nine days, and the military police's attempt to keep things quiet, but what I found was interesting."

Astrid's hands shivered as her body grew tense and her non-existent heart appeared to pound once before growing still once more. Images of rare smiles and comforting embraces and words assaulted her senses despite it not being possible.

This shouldn't be possible!

Unless...

 _I made this happen. Would it be considered Causality Manipulation or Vocal Narration in this case? I told them a lie that reality made into truth... Does that mean the 'other survivors' are who I think they are? No, that's too far even for me._

This is not good. Not good at all.

Astrid fucked up the world in less than a week. A new record if she was being brutally honest.

Author's Note: From next chapter on, the canon divergence actively begins and some of you might not like what is suggested. I did quite a bit of research on possible weapon and tactics improvements given the industrial level of the area, as well as countermeasures when those routes are officially blocked so I decided carefully on this point. Also next chapter includes the reveal of some knowledge and a little insight into her stake.


	3. Any Means Necessary

Warning: Beginning stages of vast improvements and suggestions in weapons, tactics and equipment. Most specifically suggestions on Panzerfaust and Rockets. It makes sense in context, but shows how far someone will go to accomplish their goals. Read at your own risk.

"Are you going after them?" Astrid calmly inquired. "After my brother who is weeding out the diseased branches of humanity here?"

Erwin looked down at the blank expression on the child and frowned at how her eyes showed her true feelings. Her golden eyes burned with the rage, disquiet and fierce devotion and protection for her beloved brothers. The contrast between her burning gaze and the emotionless doll-like quality of the rest of her face was unsettling. The flicker of satisfaction in her eyes at sensing his own discomfort, amused the young man.

"As far as I am concerned, that is the military police's job and knowing them they will ignore it."

Astrid nodded her head, pleased with this information. "Good. I, we, made a deal each other that if we lost sense of ourselves then we would only let the remaining sane individuals to kill them. I care not for honor or oaths, it is a foolish chain that suppresses ones true potential, but I always hold my end of deals and covenants I make."

Her words were spoken so coldly and she seemed so sure in herself that Erwin didn't doubt what she had to say.

"You have killed before?" Erwin asked to clarify things.

"Yes. Humans, animals, a few failed candidates and three or four titans. Forgot how many of theose fuckers we were up against during our own preliminary test run."

Her words were spoken in a matter of fact way like she was just recounting what she saw happened and had no personal connection to said deaths.

This didn't bother Erwin as much as it should have. Instead he focused on how the small girl stood at attention like a soldier delivering a report. Her gaze did not wander away from facing forward or toward himself which was rare even for older children.

Grisha who was silent unto now asked, "Did you feel anything when you killed?"

Astrid sighed, a small amount of regret and annoyance shining through the still mask she had on. "Despite my condition doctor I have every emotion that a normal human has. Hell, at times they are even stronger which both helps and hinders me." She shook her head to clear it. "At the time I couldn't afford to see my targets as anything other than obstacles. They were going to threaten my loved ones if I didn't get rid of them first."

Erwin closed his eyes in thought. Most of the papers that remained in that hellish place and were undamaged revealed how the trio worked in the few field trials and exercises among the public they were given. The vast majority of the remaining paperwork was observations on different levels of society within the walls written in childish handwriting.

"What's the difference between warriors and soldiers?"

Erwin saw the mask of indifference fall off her face and knew it was Astrid who wrote at least one article.

"Organisation. Warriors fight as individuals, even when there are a bunch of them together. They may be good at it, but everything they are involves fighting their opponents independently. Soldiers, by contrast, work and fight together. They can be individually as capable as any warrior but their effectiveness is far greater, because they co-operate and complement each other. This subtle difference explains why humanity is losing the fight against the titans: It's because they're complete fucking idiots." Astrid lowered her head in a mildly mocking manner. "Sir."

This little kid had guts to be that blunt to his face but she was right. As much as Erwin hated to admit it, the military system wasn't working at all.

He would have be lying if he wasn't curious on what she truly thought.

Surreal wouldn't even begin to cover how the exchange went for the poor doctor watching them. It started off as almost humoring the young girl and ended with plans and weapons schematics far above this regions current technology level.

Erwin watched the girl lean her back against the farthest way, her right heel tapping the wall in thought. Her eyes darted back and forth, no doubt checking their surroundings for anyone listening in.

When she spoke again, it was very formal and respectful. "You can both interrupt me to ask questions. Otherwise, I will be concentrating first on the failure of the military system, starting with strategy and tactics."

Neither one spoke up, so the girl cruelly attacked everything she could.

"Let's start with the basics: You fail at this profession! You have a shitty strategy that boils down to 'sit behind our walls and pray that the titans go away'. There is no Deity watching over you idiotic twerps, so you better wise up and fast if you want to live. The stalemate you guys are in will only last until the titans find some way to get at the humans inside these freaking walls. What then?! What's your big plan?"

Grisha interrupted the young child's explanation by calmly pointing out how unlikely such a event will be. The doctor was shut down immediately.

"In the year 845, not only will we lose this district but the entire Wall Maria will be compromised due to titans breaking into your sanctuary. Food will be scarce within a year of the attack and about 200,000 to 250,000 individuals will be sent into Titan territory in an attempt to get back regions." Astrid scoffed like that thought offended her greatly. "Which is really another way of removing excess stress on resources."

"How do you know this?! It should be impossible to know the future!"

Astrid lifted her head and leveled both men with eyes that they were far older and wiser than they were used to. Haunted by knowledge or loss, it didn't stop them from seeing the sharpness and reluctant desire to help them. They were the eyes of someone who anticipated the very worse case scenario in everything and survived because of it.

Just as quickly, the old eyes were replaced by a childish joy, making both men feel like they witnessed something they should not have seen.

"It's simple for those who are like me to see and even predict events. No, what we should be more focused on is my Kind. They are far worse than any Titan, more corrupt than Marley," Astrid paused at seeing the doctor stiffened and she looked at him and silently promised to talk to him later, "more powerful than anything this world has ever seen, and each one of them, aside from myself, views everything as playthings and expendable. They can even rip apart reality, and trust me, it's not fun."

Astrid looked down, obviously regretting bringing this up. "Most are far weaker than me on a bad day, but I haven't used my powers often in a very long time. Thankfully, the others are generally limited in what they can change, alter, create or accomplish. Personally, I believe it is either Ziv or Malika who created the Titans originally given their love of deals and turning humans into body horrors and monsters."

This was absolute insanity. And yet...

"You will fight against the titans and this Kind of yours for humanity?"

"Maybe."

 _Maybe? But wasn't Astrid suggesting she would aid us?_

"While I have a vastly more affectionate attitude to the rest of creation then my kind, I am a still very much the same as they. Also, I tend not to think much of humanity as a whole." Her eyes flashed, green mixing with the gold but it vanished after a second. "However, I also will not see your race crumble before me when I can stop it. I will help you out of my volition, but there are parts you might not like in both my plans and what I might do."

Neither one knew what to make of this development, so they simply let her continue on her original discussion.

"You all get slaughtered wholesale for no appreciable gain whenever you attempt those piss poor operations tasks. And tactically, your method of dealing with titans is so far from effective that I don't even know what to say. The equipment, weapons, training… everything is predicated around getting someone with a sword up to the titan's neck so they can slice it open. Words fail to express how indescribably fucking stupid this is. What makes this even more infuriating is that humanity has millennia of experience of how to deal with similar tactical problems. It's a part of your fucking DNA! You are giving away every possible advantage you could have, and transferring them to your enemy. This is the sort of insane idea that could only be come up with by someone who is fixated on individual prowess and achievement at the expense of all else. In other words their strategy, operations, and tactics all look like they were created by warriors. And that's one of the main reasons why I don't think you have a single soldier in the shitty hellhole you call home."

Erwin opened his mouth to speak but was blocked by the next topic of: Supporting Arms.

"The other main reason is the lack of thought that has been put into what you do if you're not swinging a sword at a titan. There are three arms of service – the Survey Corps, which does reconnaissance and light-infantry tasks; the Garrison Corps, which maintains and defends the walls; and the Military Police, who act as a sort of police force and praetorian guard but fuck those guys. There don't appear to be any organisational levels between that and the squad that you're assigned to, which must make assigning tasks an absolute nightmare for commanders. Naturally, there are some truly bizarre oversights being made."

"Bizarre like what," Grisha wondered aloud.

"The walls for one," replied Astrid with a shake of her head. "I'm ignoring how it was truly made and pointing out flaws as if it was designed by engineers." She crossed her arms and looked to the side. "See, the walls are built as fortifications. Their entire job is to prevent titans getting in and other than the fact they will soon fail, there was nothing altered to help strike the Titans from cover. Hell, there are no secondary fortifications in case a breach was made in the wall nor are there additional walls as spokes to limit the amount of territory lost in the event of said breach. If I didn't know any better, I would think the people inside the Walls were sacrifical lambs. The oppression of all knowledge about the outside world certainly makes this place feel one bad day away from complete dystopia."

Despite how mocking Astrid's last sentences were, both men knew what she was getting at.

The girl continued on her rant. "The 3-d manoeuvre device that everyone uses requires incredible athleticism and conveniently placed trees or buildings to swing from, but that isn't viewed as a drawback. Blood anime and manga logic. You idiots will go riding at full speed through territory controlled by titans and firing off smoke signals like they were going out of style, but this is an massive improvement on previous methods."

She paused to look at the person who was designing the tactic and laughed sheepishly. Astrid went back to explaining her views. "No-one appears to have even thought of using different weapons or gear, co-operative tactics, reconnaissance, communications, terrain features, engineering or artillery or in fact anything other than swinging up to a titan's neck like a bloody monkey and slicing it with a sword. The technical level of human society here approximates the mid-1800s in my original reality: you've had your industrial revolution, but haven't quite got to mechanising everything. Even so there are plenty of things that would make a difference."

"So you came from another world," Erwin stated with a conflicted expression. He was torn between believing her words at face value and denying it. Even when she nodded her head once in confirmation, he couldn't shake his hesitance.

"My reality was theirs as well. Five years ago, they conducted some sort of ritual that sacrificed reality and that universe in exchange for taking everyone with that power to other dimensions and time periods. Even I could not avoid it." Hurt crossed her eyes but was pushed aside by pity. "Due to an offer my greed and addictions could not refuse, I am forced to mend the damage my Kind will cause and better worlds if possible." Briefly, Astrid closed her eyes as if in a short prayer. "The original owner of this body died when she was just shy of a year old. I was compatible with her body and because it was a rush job, I didn't have time to look for a more suitable body. The trauma of being forced into her tiny body, the rush of memories I was experiencing from two different people and the rush of new yet familiar experiences suppressed my original self until recently." Astrid frowned as she ripped her arms tightly. "I am not eager to see what I experienced during this gap of time."

Erwin couldn't blame her after seeing the procedure rooms and the holding cells. "What else?"

Astrid smiled a little in thanks. "As someone who was professionally a soldier for a time before moving to mercenary and other less noble occupations, what angered me most about the local military was the indescribably poor organisation and complete lack of professionalism on display. This leads to suicidal tactics, lousy planning, and a general failure to be effective. Lucky for you guys, I have some ideas."

The grin on Astrid's face seemed to spread from ear to ear and was mischievous and knowing. "While there are those who know quite a bit about titans, coming up with a strategy for others will be difficult. It needs two parts – one in which they hold off the titans and learn more about them, and one in which their source is attacked once it's been identified. Then, and only then will we defeat the titans by learning where they come from, and then blowing the fucking place sky-high.

Grisha eyed the girl with suspicion. "You know where that is, don't you?"

Her face blanked for a second before her grin returned darker and more twisted than ever before. "Of course! Not that it would help you guys anytime soon. I already have my own plans on dealing with those nuisances."

Erwin filed the interaction between the two away to investigate at a better time. "From your experience, what do you suggest for the military branches?"

Astrid ignored his stress on experience and answered his inquiry. "All the military branches need some organisational levels between "squad" and "corps". Making use of humanity's superior numbers requires better organisation, so the basic operational group should be five squads of twelve soldiers assigned together more or less permanently. This is an ideal size but given how rare people actually join the Survey Corps of their free will, we will be working on five squads of six to eight soldiers. Less if we absolutely must. Although every squad should have a scout or two in it, one squad will be specialised in that role. Another squad will specialise in the care and feeding of the weapons I'll be mentioning later. The other three will be general-purpose 'tactical' squads. Having them permanently assigned to the same unit will give everyone a chance to train and get used to working together, and is a manageable number to keep under control once the fighting starts."

Astrid stopped to see if they had any questions so far then continued. "Both the Survey Corps and Garrison Corps are going to be busy and efficient for once. The Garrison Corps needs to not only take care of any titans that wander up to the walls, but also find ways to defend outposts outside them. This is going to mean developing specialists in engineering and artillery. The Survey Corps, meanwhile, will have to provide advance warning of titans and also start conducting longer-range patrols to find out where they're coming from. Also, I suggest adding on research facilities, intelligence programs and the like to the Survey Corps in order to further human and world interests. Not only will this give you more credibility among the mindless sheep, but once this whole Titan business is over with, you have prospective career choices ahead of you."

"You didn't mention the military police," Grisha pointed out with crossed arms.

Astrid lifted her middle fingers and positioned them in the direction of their headquarters. Seeing identical blank faces, she told them what that meant. " It means fuck you." She rubbed behind her neck to ease a slight pain there. "Why would I want to help those corrupt bastards anyway? Waste of potential. Besides, they won't have much power or status soon enough."

Erwin heaved a sigh of relief that they didn't have to fear her turning to join them. "Tactics," he ordered and the girl snapped into a stance that was similar to the ones he was used to seeing. Judging by the scowl on her face, Astrid fell into this position out of an old habit than choice.

"For the most part, the tactics of swinging around and waving swords will be lessened due to the appalling casualty rate and lack of consistent results. I suggest we remember the basic phases of a battle: find the enemy, fix them in position, and then destroy them. Since we will hopefully have these units I mentioned earlier, let's get as many of their members as possible engaging each titan. To find the titans, we need scouts who can pass back information without getting eaten."

"Trap them you mean," Erwin muttered.

Astrid nodded her head once. "To fix a titan, we need some way of keeping it in the same place long enough to do invoke the trope of no kill like overkill. Luring it into bad terrain might help but it can't be relied upon since it can hurt our troops just as much. We know that titans' eyes, muscles, and tendons are just as vulnerable as those on a human. They also can't easily break the cables used by the manoeuvre devices." She took in a calming breath. "Which brings us to the third phase, destruction. The only way to kill a titan is by destroying the nape of its neck, but you don't have to do that with a sword. Enough damage will do the trick just as well. So there's the outline of our tactics against titans: Find them, manoeuvre them into position, and then engage them from multiple sources. First to disable them, then to kill."

"What about equipment? Changing tactics so drastically must mean you have new ideas for tools and weapons."

Astrid nodded her head. "I do but for the most part I, and those I can trust to not abuse or sell the secrets to making them, will be producing the items." She sighed at seeing their curious looks. "What I am offering will be customized to only work on titans and other non-humans but it is still close enough to giving iron age tool using people a nuclear weapon and letting them play with it. You will see what I mean soon enough."

Erwin motioned for her to move on.

"The three-dimensional manoeuvre device has flaws despite it's usefulness," Astrid began with a small smirk. "It requires a lot of ability to use as well as conveniently placed terrain, damn anime laws, and only lasts about 20 minutes before the gas cylinders need changing. But it does give users much more mobility, which is important. So we'll keep it, but add an item for anyone using it: a fucking helmet. The real question is how to disable the titans for long enough to do something more than tickling the fucker. A single shot variation of the harpoon cannons will be best. That way everyone can carry one or two, and an onslaught of those beauties will still cause massive problems." She paused and looked skittish, almost afraid before asking, "Permission to show you both something?"

The men looked at each other warily but they consents after a few minutes of consideration. Strange shadows encased the room before darkness swallowed there vision. Just as quickly as it occurred their sight was returned and what they saw was unusual.

They were in the field outside the Walls and the girl was missing. In place of the girl was a very tall young woman somewhere in her mid to late twenties dressed in black leather armor. She was tanned from fighting outside and traveling but that only made her greenish-gold eyes and platinum blonde hair stand out more. A scar an inch or two from some type of claw crossed the corner of her dark lips which were tilted in a mocking grin that was all too familiar at this point.

"Astrid?"

The woman nodded and held her arms out as if ready for something to fall into them. And something did indeed.

It was a projectile of some sort and resembled a large oversized head on a long hollow tube, which was no doubt filled with gun powder which acted as the propellant.

The woman cradled the weapon to her chest and stoked the side of the projectile affectionately. "This lovely weapon of destruction is a Panzerfaust 60. It's a disposable weapon designed to wreck the most amount of shit in shortest amount of time and it's about as simple as this weapon type get. It's also light enough for someone to carry a couple without being slowed down. It might not outright kill a titan but it will blow off limbs, shred muscles and tendons, and generally wreck the bastards caught in the line of fire. A volley of these will make it much easier to administer any finishing blows required."

The roar of a Titan dragged their attention to a jogging Titan coming their way. Seeing both them stiffen, Astrid rolled her eyes. "Relax. It's just an illusion. Oh and don't stand behind me or within ten feet to any side."

The woman crouched down on one knee, positioned the projectile in an underarm firing position, opened up the sighting mechanism and selected the range she would need. Her eyes darkened with bloodlust as she fired once the creature was in range.

The end result proved why she was cautious about producing these weapons.

"The Panzerfaust are for infantry or simply the Survey Corps. We will need something heavier for surprised attacks. Many of such weapons which might be effective against them aren't practical for this world. Your cannons are okay, but aren't mobile which we need. My personal preference and suggestion is a multiple rocket launcher. Accuracy is not their strong point, although probably no worse than a smoothbore cannon. But they do have a hefty payload capacity and they're simple, cheap, effective, and reliable. They do take time to reload, however, and their ammunition is bulky." She paused in her explanation as if considering something. "Field tests would be required to see whether they will work in this world. I think using swords as your primary means of bringing down titans is indescribably stupid, but a titan with a leg shredded by a rocket blast is going to have its neck conveniently close to ground level, and at that point finishing them off with a sword lets us concentrate on more important things."

Astrid smirked at the two. "Often mercenary and criminal jobs required staking out the target over a period of time to get the required information without anyone knowing I was there so I developed ways to be stealthy and unassuming. Since titans finding out where humans are is usually followed by them attacking like the mindless beasts they are, stealthy and subtleness is desperately needed here. Humans have some inherent advantages over titans: we're smaller so we can see them from further than they can see us, we operate fairly well at night while they tend to go dormant out of the sun for now, and we have brains. Yes, this will mean getting off our lazy asses once in a while to climb up hills or trees and look around. Once we've located them, how do we get that information back? I'd suggest a heliograph, which is essentially a mirror that we would use to send messages."

The illusion faded to black and everyone was once again back in the basement. Astrid rubbed her head like she had a headache. Erwin dismissed the oddity that just happened and focused on getting more answers.

"You can produce these equipments, correct?"

"These will only work again titans and certain non-human types, but yes. I will require material, time, assistance, and some form of payment for labor costs."

Erwin frowned but nodded at the terms for those items. "Regarding your Kind-"

"We are notoriously difficult to permanently kill," Astrid cut off with a shake of her head. "I have my own plans for how to deal with them, including the Survey Corps providing what assistance they can render. The plans will change once I am certain which one altered events here. Until then, it is better to leave that alone for the moment and focus on the most pressing matters."

Knocking on the latch above them shattered the serious discussion between the three of them.

Astrid smiled like a little kid, a surprising scene after all this."Like food! Eating is important after all."

Erwin suddenly felt like he was out of his depth but he was in too far to do anything but tread the waters around him, hoping he won't go under.

Dinner that night was the single most awkward meal Astrid could ever recall happening to her. This is including the one time some random demon brat walked into her apartment like he owned the place, sat down at the table and took half of her homemade pizza as his own. That jerk had the nerve to complain by saying it needed more spice.

"Can you pass me the salt, Astrid?"

Astrid carefully handed over the salt container in front of her to the blond haired man before her eyes travelled back to Grisha who was cutting the decent sized hunk of pork with more harshness then the task needed.

Carla looked at her husband in concern but struck up a conversation with the Survey Corps member leaving the oblivious Eren to ramble on about nothing to Astrid who nodded and quietly added her two cents when asked.

Thankfully, that torture didn't last long before Erwin decided to be a good person and get the hell out of here. Only after hinting of returning in a few days time for more in-depth details, of course.

The moment he was out of their sight, Astrid stared at the rough grip on her shoulder in annoyance.

"I imagine this is were I am supposed to tell you how I know all this information," mused Astrid.

Grisha grimaced at how bluntly she admitted to knowing things that were best left alone. "That would be helpful."

Astrid sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "Meh, you only have about four more years left to live so I can't see what you can do to fuck me over long-term."

The man paled at being reminded of the time limit by someone who shouldn't know such things. His only solace was that she didn't reveal his Titan Shifter status. Maybe she did it out of the kindness of her heart.

"Don't go thinking I did this out of kindness or some other foolish feeling. I need your help slightly less then you will need mine, and you can't help when dead."

 _Nevermind that then,_ Grisha thought with a crown. _At least she is honest._


End file.
